[Chapter Thirty-Eight]

Éponine felt a sense of pride within herself that she was able to talk to Regulus and actually be a voice of reason. He admitted to her that he felt much better after speaking with her and that left her feeling accomplished as well. However, she couldn't help but feel extremely nervous about the information that Regulus had shared with her during his consideration to join the Dark Arts. The fact that the likes of Severus Snape was doing a bit of the recruiting, baffled her as he apparently had cut all ties with the likes of Lily Evans. Even though, Éponine had seen him once or twice try to corner the red-headed girl in the corridors, in hopes that she would speak to him. And not only was he trying to promote the Dark Lord's following, he was trying to get students, younger than himself to join.

What business did a fifth-year student have joining the ranks of the Death Eaters? For him to target Regulus, was going after the vulnerable. Because while Regulus and Sirius had their differences to the point where they rarely spoke to one another without arguing, Éponine knew that both brothers still cared about each other so much. It didn't matter if Sirius had left home, he still wanted to look out for Regulus, and the same held true for Regulus as well. It didn't matter if he was the youngest out of the two, he wanted to make sure that Sirius didn't get hurt. He cared enough that he was willing to subject himself to the practices of the Dark Lord, even when he didn't believe in the same things as the dark wizard.

Just thinking about it all left Éponine with a headache, far worse than the one she experienced when in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. She wanted to advise Regulus to speak with Sirius again, hopefully in a way that the two didn't end up yelling at one another. But Regulus didn't seem ready for that because he was still hurting over the idea that in his mind, Sirius had replaced him with the other boys that he considered to be his brothers as well.

They were going to have to work on that but in the meantime, Éponine was just thankful that she had been able to talk Regulus out of the idea of joining the Dark Lord, or at least, she had put it out of his mind for the time being. Yet, whenever she saw Severus around the castle, all she wanted to do was give him multiple detentions for even suggesting such a thing to Regulus. It was all fine and dandy if he wanted to ruin his life with such a commitment, but to get others to try and do the same things, forget detention, she wanted to punch him in his large nose.

But instead, she decided a more civil approach, as she didn't think violence would be much of an answer. While Severus was older than her, Éponine was still a prefect and she knew she had right to exercise what she saw as a fit attitude towards the situation. She needed to handle it because while Regulus was very special to her, there was no telling how many people Severus had approached with such false promises.

So while Regulus was off preparing for a Quidditch match against Gryffindor, Éponine made the promise that she would be there, but didn't head out to the stands right away. Instead, she knew that Severus would more than likely skip the match, seeing as James Potter was playing and he loathed the boy more than anything. She remained in the Common Room and just as she suspected, Severus appeared exiting the boy's dorm with a book in hand to busy his afternoon.

He didn't seem to notice Éponine until she stood right in front of him, blocking his path to the nearest black sofa behind her.

"Yes?" he asked, raising a brow as he came to face a scowling look as she glared up at him.

"You and I need to speak," she began, keeping her voice as steady as possible, " it has come to my attention that you have been talking to several students about the possibility of becoming a Death Eater or serving under the Dark Lord. You do know that is highly forbidden-"

"Regulus spoke to you, did he? He certainly tells you everything, what a surprise," Severus applied, sounding highly annoyed. "It does not concern you-"

"Do not try to pass off the rubbish that it does not concern me!" Éponine raised her voice, anger began fueling her rather than courage. " You know very well as to why it would concern me. Walking around and discussing such things only places up a bad reputation for our House and as a prefect, it is one of my responsibilities to make sure that the Slytherin House gleams with pride. If you wish to join the Dark Arts, allow that to be solely your decision, as for the others, it will be theirs, without your influence."

"Surely you do not find the beliefs of the Dark Lord to be wrong," Severus said in a questioning tone, " would that not be questioning your own beliefs as part of your family-"

"Do not question me or my beliefs, let alone those of my family. My family is part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, not something I could say for the likes of yourself and here you act as if you hold influence over anyone. You don't! At last, I heard, you're a half-blood, Severus. A muggle father from what I was told, meaning you hold no influence over the pureblooded families around here. Not to mention, don't pretend like you weren't close friends with the likes of a muggle-born for years. It's only rejection that fuels your want to join the Dark Arts, not a commitment and I don't think the Dark Lord would be the one pleased to hear such a thing.  You keep your mouth shut about things you know nothing about and leave Regulus alone. Leave all of them alone."

She watched as his upper lip curled right into a sneer, but she didn't care, she didn't care how she came across to Severus because she didn't particularly care about him. But she did care about Regulus and that was all that mattered at the time, that he remained safe. Without another word, she allowed Severus to remain behind with what she had told him before making her way out of the Slytherin Common Room, into the dungeon corridors.

The fact that Severus had tried to turn it all on her and make it seem like she was the one going against her family, made Éponine's blood boil. Lucius had joined the ranks of the Death Eaters, she knew that well, but even during his time at Hogwarts, he was never one to go around mentioning such things. He knew he had to be careful as the Dark Arts were still considered illegal. Severus didn't seem to grasp that concept as he was practically going around to those in Slytherin that were willing to listen.

It was true, Éponine did not support the views of the Dark Lord because he was far too extreme for her liking. That didn't mean she went against what she had learned and what her family believed in. Maybe there was a slight confusion about things she didn't agree with that were part of the tradition of their families, but it wasn't like what Severus was trying to make it out to be. It was also foolish of him to be recruiting children, teenagers at most, but impressionable minds that probably didn't fully understand what they were committing themselves to.

And once someone was committed to the Dark Lord, there was no such thing as backing out.

The Quidditch stands were absolutely packed with students and faculty members, all ready to watch the rivalry match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Éponine found herself quite excited as she had Emmarentia in her company to watch it within the stands. It was a brisk day in November, but Éponine was still feeling quite warm as she was still fired up from earlier. Even in just her soft periwinkle jumper, she was close to breaking a sweat, unlike Emmarentia, who complained that it was absolutely freezing outside.

"Here," Éponine told her, " take my jumper, it should keep you warm."

Emmarentia looked over at her in surprise at the offer, wondering if Éponine was joking, but seeing as the girl was currently taking it off, it was safe to say that it wasn't a joke at all.

"Are you sure? What about you? Won't you get cold?"

"No, I'll be fine," Éponine smiled, " I usually get really worked up doing these matches, I'm sure I'll remain warm for most of it. Don't worry, take it."

Emmarentia didn't put up any more of an argument as she took the jumper and slipped it on, suddenly encased in such a warmth and the familiar smell of whatever soap or shampoo that Éponine used regularly. She was going to say thank you, but it was already too late as Éponine was already up on her feet, clapping her hands as the Slytherin team was taking to the pitch as they were announced one by one.

Regulus was the last person to enter the pitch as the Seeker but received an extra loud applause from Éponine, one that he was sure he could hear as he turned his head and searched the stands for her.  When he did finally spot her within the large crowd seated with the other Slytherin students, he flashed her a smile, along with a nod of his head before the Gryffindor team was called to the pitch.

As she sat back down, Éponine could see James Potter take to the pitch and as the teams had to come stand across from one another, the exchanged looks between him and Regulus would almost be considered deadly. It brought her to frown as while the two would really only see their differences in belief, if they could only see what they shared in common, perhaps things wouldn't be so bad.

There was one thing that they both shared a love for and that was Sirius. They both cared about his well being and both saw him as a brother, and it was almost like they hated each other for that very same reason. It seemed Regulus was jealous of the fact that Sirius saw James as a brother and James was jealous of the fact that Regulus would always technically be Sirius' little brother. At least, that's what she believed, there was potential that she was completely wrong, but she figured she spoke some truth.

The key to Regulus actually healing was Sirius and no matter what she said or did, it was really between the two Black brothers.

The match started off after the captains of both teams shook heads and at the blow of Madam Hooch's whistle, they were up in the air.

One of the worst side effects that Éponine suffered through was always having a stiff neck after a match since she always had to keep her gaze focused upward to catch all the action. She had watched the golden snitch be released into the air, but within seconds it had vanished from view, leaving Regulus and the Gryffindor Seeker to find it in hopes of bringing the match to an end.

"Bless the creators of the Quidditch uniforms," Emmarentia said, bringing Éponine to look over at her, " they make the bottoms so tight."

Rather than saying anything, Éponine just stared at her quietly.

"Oh come on, you mean to tell me that you haven't noticed how great Regulus's arse looks-"

"Emmarentia, that's enough!" Éponine coughed out as she had inhaled the cold air around her far too quickly. "Please!"

There was always something about the matches between Gryffindor and Slytherin that were so incredibly intense that it left Éponine biting her nails from start to finish. It was almost as if the Founders of both houses had taken to the pitch and were fighting it out to the death. Each score was a sheer disappointment for one side, but a joyful celebration for the other. There was cheering and booing coming from the stands depending on who scored, enough that her ears would be ringing for weeks following the match.

The matches between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff always came across as a bit more civilised as the teams would play equally as hard in many respects but it was the members of their households that seemed to not hold such a rivalry as the others.

"You would think by the way they are playing that the losing team is going to be up for slaughter," Emmarentia shook her head. "I've never seen so many bludgers actually make contact in one match."

Emmarentia was right unfortunately, anyone who had ever been struck by a bludger knew better than anyone else that it hurt like hell. And during that much, it seemed everyone on both sides had been struck at least once. James had taken a bludger to his face, breaking his glasses, and causing a piece to fly right into his eye. He had to land so that it could be taken care of right away, calling for a time-out. Lucky for him, the pain and damage had only been temporary, taking just a few minutes up of the match, but the next person to be hit was Regulus and he took the bludger straight to his knee.

He had been so close to the catching the snitch that Éponine didn't know if he was crying out in pain or in frustration that he didn't get it in time.

So far, the match was quite close with it 80-70 with Slytherin in the lead. The Chasers on both teams were battling it out without mercy, the bludgers were attempting to take out anyone and everyone, nearly entering the stands a couple of times. Éponine found herself panicking for the match in particular more than any other one. She didn't know if it was due to the intensity or the fact that she actually really liked Regulus now and was hoping that he would pull off the win for them.

But she reached out and snatched Emmarentia's hands, gripping them so tightly that Emmarentia was making all sorts of expression as her face contorted in pain. For anyone who would ever dare to say that Éponine was weak, they had another thing coming if they ever allowed the girl to squeeze their hands. She was just about to cry out for mercy when Éponine jumped to her feet along with plenty of others in the stands.

Regulus had spotted the snitch once more and was making a mean dash for it in the air. He was practically nose-diving towards the ground to get it and Éponine feared that he was going to crash if he didn't pull up soon. However, at the same time, she wanted him to keep going so that he could get the snitch.

"Come on, come on," she muttered under her breath as she hopped in place, " come on, Regulus, you can do it!"

She debated whether to cover her eyes because she didn't want to see him crash to the ground but at the same time, she wanted to see if he would indeed catch the snitch. So she made a compromise by covering up one eye with her hand and continued to watch the scene. Regulus looked beyond determined at the time, whether because there was a House rivalry, or maybe it was to prove to Sirius that he was better than James even in regards to Quidditch, it wasn't clear. But he needed to get the snitch, there was a desperation that fluttered in his eyes as he reached out his hand. He could hear the sound of the stands, half of them cheering, the other half booing and hoping he'd crash.

Then there was the fear of the bludgers hitting him again, his knee was still in quite a bit of pain, but he pressed forward, no one or nothing was going to stop him. His arm was outstretched as far as it would go and he was chasing the snitch so closely that his fingertips had nearly grazed the orb's backside.  His actions had caused the attention for both teams and the Gryffindor Seeker was attempting to come up fast and steal the snitch from him, but Regulus wouldn't allow it.

He couldn't allow it as he let his hand go from his broom and unwrapped his legs, sending him right to the ground without any hopes of pulling up at the last second. But before he could hit the ground, his fingers wrapped around the cold metal of the golden snitch and he brought his arm to his chest in triumph.